Chapter 2. The Encounter

7 Days Later

The only thing on Jimmy was a loose, white flowing gown. He narrowed his eyes down at the gown. Nothing was making sense to him at all. His head still hurt a bit, and he was still dressed in a strip of woven material used to bind up a wound--to protect an injured part of the body.

On realizing his head was dressed with a bandage, it occurred to him that the loose white gown must have been from the hospital downtown, but what he couldn’t figure out was what he was doing in the middle of the road. He should be in the hospital and not standing in the middle of the road with abandoned cars surrounding him.

“What is going on here?” he muttered under his breath.

There was no sign of anyone. It was a ghost town. The only thing he could see was cars with no driver in them. Some of the cars were already burnt, and some looked as if they had been in a fatal car crash. He teetered towards one of the cars with his right hand holding his lower abdomen. He could still feel pains down his stomach and left side ribs.

On getting to a black car that crashed through the wall of a mini shop, he peeped through the broken wall of the mini shop, but there was no sign of anyone. His thoughts went back to the deserted city of Coast Land when he was sent for a peacekeeping mission during the invasion of a terrorist group. For a moment, he thought that New York City had been invaded by an enemy troop. He couldn’t wait to see the end of what had happened to his beautiful city. All he wanted was answers, but obviously, there was no one around to give him that. He moved towards the iron door of the mini shop and gave it a gentle push.

The glass door flung open and greeted him with a soft breeze. He teetered into the shop, and everything looked normal. The shop was still intact except for the broken wall as a result of the black car that had crashed through it. Everything in the shop appeared normal, and there was no sign of robbery. The goods were untouched, but the shop was completely empty. 

“Where did everyone go?” he asked, looking around. He was lost in his thoughts.

As he continued to look around, he realized he was still in a white gown and needed something else to wear. He didn’t wait for a second but moved toward one of the hangers and pulled out black pants and a white shirt. 

“Perhaps this will do,” he whispered to himself as he unfolded the shirt.

Not long after he had dressed, he headed back to the entrance door. As he was inspecting the black car that had crashed through the walls of the mini shop, he began to hear a sound like that of a radio wave receiver. The sound wasn’t coming from the black car; it was coming from behind him. He flicked around in haste. Before Jimmy stood a lady dressed in a white flowing gown with a red cape.

“Do you know what happened here?” asked Jimmy as he slowly moved towards the lady, expecting a reply, but the lady remained mute. “I just woke up and found out things aren’t the same again,” Jimmy continued.

As Jimmy was about to speak further, the lady’s eyes turned half-green and humongous.

“What the hell!” Jimmy let out a scream as he quickly drew back. He remembered seeing this type of eyes days ago. The only difference is that the lady wasn’t looking like the creature he encountered in the woods during training with his comrades.

The lady slowly raised her left hand and placed a finger in her left ear. 

“I have come across a human. What should I do?”

“Fuck!” Jimmy exclaimed, realizing the lady was using a radio earpiece. “Who the hell are you?” he asked nervously.

There was no response from the lady. She was busy listening to further instructions over the earpiece. 

Jimmy was still trying to analyze what was happening around him when the lady pulled out a weapon and pointed it toward Jimmy. It looked exactly like the one the creature in the woods used against him and his comrades seven days ago.

On recognizing the weapon, Jimmy slid across the black car, taking cover. He could still recall how his comrades died and how he ended up in the hospital, but what he couldn’t remember was how he ended up in the middle of the road dressed in a hospital gown. As he was thinking about what to do next, he remembered how the force from the lethal weapon destroyed the military jeep he was in. At this thought, he realized the car couldn’t protect him from what was coming. He quickly ran toward the iron door of the mini shop and slammed it shut behind him.

“I’m doomed!” he said, panting heavily as he held his lower abdomen. He could still feel the pain. What he needed right now was to rest, but how could he do that when someone was after him with a deadly weapon?

The next thing he heard was a blast. The force from the lethal weapon blasted open the iron door of the mini shop. The lady made her way into the shop and started scanning the inside with her humongous, half-green eyes.

Jimmy had nowhere to run, but he could hide. He was hiding behind the brick counter, still panting. He had been one of the bravest Marine Corps in the history of the US Marines. However, to him, this was not the time to play bravely but the time to survive.

The lady could hear his panting. It was as if she could hear his breath. Immediately, her focus diverted towards the brick counter as she started making her way to it. “I can smell you from here,” she said, standing in front of the counter with her lethal weapon pointed toward it. “I can make it easy for you if you comply,” she added.